them. >> spring storms made things noticeably cooler. 55 degrees. a lot cooler. a little rain did the trick? >> you noticed the change. did you appreciate the change? >> certainly did. >> completely different place to live now that we've had the 3,268 grains per cubic meter pollen washed out of the air. mother nature finally hosed us down and did we appreciate it. first thing on your friday morning here's a check on live doppler. couple of lonely sprinkles left in the capital beltway. a few sprinkles left now from dale city and triangle down to stafford and fredericksburg. almost every where along the west, shenandoah valley and blue ridge the rain is done. a couple of sprinkles in silver

spring. the majority of the rain is behind us. the cooler air is starting to move back in. temperatures in the mid-50s around town. 41 in pittsburgh. that's a sign of what's coming our way for overnight tonight. there goes the last of that band of thunder showers. light rain should be out of here by mid to late morning. showers ending, sunshine returning, cool and breezy today. temperatures holding in the upper 50s and low 60s but that will feel just fine by almost everybody and the weekend is looking a-okay. let's hope you can get us to and from work quick and safe today. >> we're going to do our very best. the roads are slick because of the weather. let's look at iran 95 northbound as you make the trip up towards lorton road. little further up in springfield, had a bus with a flat tire. that's drawing a little attention. in maryland, first check of the morning for those headed out of montgomery village to points

south lanes are open. didn't see a whole lot of overnight road work, pretty much washed out in the overnight hours. now for the latest on that scare in the sky. the qatari diplomat is being recalled. he'll no longer live in arlington or in the united states. news 4 jackie bensen reports. >> reporter: it was a harrowing night for the passengers aboard a united airlines flight though it ended safely. >> quite an inconvenience but better than a tragedy. >> reporter: flight 663, a 757 like this one was well on its way about an hour from a scheduled stop in denver before going on the las vegas when a passenger in first class spent a long time in the bathroom. federal investigators say when he came out a flight attendant smelled smoke and notified two federal air marshals on board this they questioned the man

from the persian gulf nation qatar. he was on official business to check on the treatment of a federal prisoner. when he was asked about his smoking in the bathroom, officials replied sarcastically i was trying to light my shoe on fire and refused to give up his lighter. the pilot sent an emergency message and the faa immediately relayed warnings to other planes in the air. >> be advised that u.s. air carrier has reported a passenger has attempted to ignite his shoes on fire. pilots are to maintain extra vigilance. >> reporter: two fighter jets were set to accompany the plane. a frequent critic of the department of homeland security said the government's response this time was just right. >> the air marshals did exactly

the right thing. what he did was stupid and irreresponsible. >> reporter: jackie bensen, "news4 today." four people are dead after a u.s. air force aircraft went down in southeastern afghanistan. nato is still investigating what caused the crash in the province of kabul. militants shot it down but insurgents made false claims in the past. rescuers will try again to reach four missing miners in west virginia. officials determined that the mine's air is now safe enough to allow crews back in. jay gray has the latest from raleigh county, west virginia. >> reporter: for the third time since monday's explosion an anxious and determined group of rescue members made their way into the upper big branch mine sometime after midnight. >> we'll be in a position this evening or this morning to make a mad dash. >> reporter: carrying four extra oxygen masks the crew will push

towards two reinforced safety chambers about five miles inside the mine. experts agree the only way four missing miners could have survived if they made to it these safe havens. >> i hope they will come out alive. >> reporter: as they pray for that miracle they must prepare for the reality of the lives that were lost. today recovery teams will begin the grim task of removing the miners of those who died in the blast. >> it will be a slow process. we got to respect the bodies. i don't have a time frame on it. we'll just try to do it as soon as possible. >> i believe families are relieved and knowing this process is starting, which the end will be near. >> reporter: a somber journey home for a group of miners now embraced and remembered as heroes here. officials are in constant

communication with the rescue team and expect to have new information in just a few hours. jay gray, nbc news, raleigh county, west virginia. >> president obama has asked federal mine safety officials to report to him next week on what might have caused thad deadly explosion. police officers in montgomery county will say good-bye to one of their own. 31-year-old hector died last week while responding to another officer's call. family members and friends attend his viewing yesterday. his funeral will be held today in olney. he leaves behind a 14-month-old son and a wife who was expecting triplets in june. 4:36 right now. 55 degrees. still ahead, downtown lockdown. >> major traffic alert that will impact drivers. metro. even people just walking around. the latest on the hunt for a man who has been vandalizing

scenic spots with racial graffiti. >> what .

4:39. the first spring storm put on a lightning show. high winds brought down trees and power lines. the biggest tree came down in the 200 block of 8th street

southeast. no one was hurt. wow. big clean up. very dramatic. let's go chuck bell to look at the forecast for today. storms out of the area? >> not yet. the majority of them. the heavier thunderstorms are moving away from the area. still a if you linger rain drops to get your friday morning started from 95 and points eastbound towards the bay and down into portions of southern maryland. how much rain was it? almost 3/4 of an inch in down. three quarters of an inch in annapolis. and three quarters of an inch in st. mary's. 40s across the panhandle of west virginia up into the winchester area. most of the heavy rain is gone now. folks out towards loudoun county and frederick county, maryland are pretty much done with the

rain. your friday forecast is an improving one because the clouds and the rain and even the last of the rain drops should be out of here before 9:00 a.m. this morning and the sunshine will be back later today and it will feel like april. it will be wonderful. highs in the 60s. jerry edwards over to you. take a live look downtown where the pavement looks dry and that's good news for you on 395 headed in that direction this morning. right now on 395, 295, south capital street, pennsylvania avenue everything is moving along nicely. along 95 in springfield, northbound, all lanes are open. continuing activity with the bus with the flat tire in springfield southbound moving along nicely. no early hangups to report. thanks very much. our time is 4:41. 55 degrees. ahead the traffic alert that may make some drivers go nuclear. long list of streets are being shut down and why the secret service may be asking to see your i.d. next week. the government is raising

concerns about a possible risk posed by anti-bacterial soap. >> bathroom on the battlefield. what changes are taking

today president barack obama wraps up his trip to prague.

the arms pact still needs approval of lawmakers in both countries. the president looks to the nuclear summit next week. israel's prime minister backed out worried it will be an issue. when the summit comes to washington it will cause some major disruptions for drivers and commuters. it will start as early as today with parking restrictions taking effect around the washington convention center. tom sherwood explains. >> by 7:00 p.m., we're asking people who are coming into the city or this way to go to work is one, plan ahead. >> reporter: the chief, the mayor and jeff irvin acknowledge the inconvenience for motorists, local businesses and residents. >> how residents will come in

and out by showing identification. we know without any question that that is a burden to the residents and burdens. >> the big site of the convention is huge. we encourage everyone to visit the secret service website for additional specific information. >> reporter: with dozens of high-security motorcades for more than 40 heads of state, the chief said the department is working to keep locals informed and out of the way. >> so we're asking information be aware of their surroundings and be patient. there will be motorcades moving periodically. >> reporter: local businesses all hope their customers know the secret service will let you walk into the stores if you bring i.d.s. >> i don't think it's going to affect me that much personally. i mean things like this just

kind of make me feel like i really enjoy living in d.c. you know, things like this happen all the time. >> reporter: tom sherwood, news 4, washington. >> metro will be increasing its security at the mound vernon station and the yellow and green lines will be closing at 9:00 p.m. on sunday and remain closed until wednesday morning. metro's board is considering eliminating some service on the yellow line. they discussed about getting rid of the extension from mount vernon to ft. totten. the mid-city business association has start ad petition to keep the yellow line extension open. d.c. council member jim graham said he'll do everything he can to stop those cuts. but supporters say it's necessary to close the budget short fall. today at the white house first lady michelle obama will focus on battling the bulge with kids. she will hold a childhood

obesity forum. she said the epidemic threatens an entire again regulate of young people. she sat down with news 4 jim vance and talked about why it's so important to bring kids into the white house. >> it's really critical for me for kids of all races and ages to really feel like this white house is theirs and that they are going to come in here and they are going to hear music and go the easter egg roll and sit in the state dining room and feel what it's like to be a part of the state dinner because i think it can change the way kids see themselves. you know, if you see it you can believe it. i want them to see themselves here. >> you can find much more of jim vance's one on one interview with the first lady online, just head to nbcwashington.com. the story is on our home page. >> people visiting gettysburg this summer will get a more authentic feel. the park service is trying to restore the battlefield to the way it looked during the civil war and yesterday a backhoe

ripped the roof off of this comfort station which had rest rooms inside. power lines will be taken down. many describe the battle of gettysburg as the wears turning point. union troops turned back general robert e. lee's army in july of 1863. he's accused of spraefding hate and vandalizing a war memorial. u.s. park police are looking for this man, they believe he's the vandal. police say the vandal painted swastikas and other racist messages. >> messages that are hate speech. anti-black and anti-jew. and it doesn't directly threaten violence but very controversial type statement. >> if you see him don't approach

him. call police or 911 instead. one arrest but two gunmen remain on the loose. police are looking into two separate shootings in howard county. it happened wednesday morning in laurel. one happened at a mobile home park. police say some residents got into a fight with two people in a nearby hotel. people have arrested jessica. officers are looking for the trigger man. they are looking for the shooter who opened fire on two teenagers as well not far away. it's just about 4:51. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. what a big change. >> nice change too. welcome change. more like spring. >> just feels so much nicer outside. you can just see the pollen getting washed out of the air and put into the storm drains. i know it caught a lot of people by surprise. we caught some of them on video.

few people had umbrellas. 50% of people had their umbrella. didn't watch channel 4 yesterday. didn't know about the rain that was coming. it came down in bucket loads. about 8:00 last night in down. these pictures were shot in upper northwest near tinley town. picking up nearly an inch ever rain. gaithersburg, maryland just under a full inch of rain. current temperature 50 degrees. 54 in gaithersburg. quantico, virginia, 0.81 inch of rain. silver spring, maryland 51 now with 0.75 inch of rain. stafford, virginia, nearly 0.75 inch of rain. current temperature at 50 degrees. here's a check of live doppler. most of the heavy rain has left the western suburbs. still have a few lingering showers down in charles county, maryland from waldorf and la

plata. these showers also down into portions of st. mary's and southern calvert county, couple of sprinkles not too far away from the state house in annapolis, maryland. most of the rain is already done with us here. couple of sprinkles up towards silver spring and wheaton, e elicott city. leesburg, winchester and front royal, martinsburg all dry and that's it for the rain today. you won have to worry about the umbrellas for later today. temperatures, yes, indeed. what a change. this time yesterday we were 73 degrees. our current temperature now 57. and a lot of spots towards the panhandle of west virginia in the upper 40s. as you get ready to prepare the kids for a friday at school i think another outdoor recess day will be a possibility, couple of

lingering showers again eastern and southern suburbs. if the rain stopped at your house you won't need the umbrella. dry weather by late morning and early afternoon. sunshine returning. breezy. noticeably cooler today than yesterday with highs in the upper 50s and low 60s. tomorrow is a winner, highs in the low 60s. extended forecast beautiful weather all through the second half of today through tomorrow into sunday. in fact sunday the warm air is back. highs in the mid-70s back here by sunday afternoon. we get a little something for everybody. most importantly the pollen has been taken care of at least for a day or two. >> nice to be able to breath. let's head on over -- fresh air. capital beltway northern virginia on the inner loop approaching i-66 word of an accident just around the bend there. we're looking for. police should be on the scene dealing with that. we do have pavement to deal with as well so heads up. let's see how we're doing

elsewhere. 270 southbound, as you head out of frederick towards germantown, gaithersburg and rockville all travel lanes open. the roads may still be a bit slick so be careful. 4:54 is your time. ahead phone home while you can. >> cell phone ban is up for a vote in maryland today. plus you can fine it in just about every home. why the government is looking into whether anti-bacterial soap does more harm than good. and why

on the tee, tiger woods! >> tiger woods is back where he feels most comfortable on the golf course. if you thought he was a bit rusty or unprepared. he's just two shots off thread and had his best first day of the masters. things are quite different for tiger in augusta. >> reporter: they were scenes that golf fans had seen many times before. tiger woods sinking it, smiling, celebrating an amazing shot. >> i got to tell you one of the best moments i saw when he was on 9 and hit it out of the woods. we were on the green. didn't know where he was. he was about 10 feet away from

the cup. >> i think i hit the ball well all day. didn't make a lot of putts. >> reporter: in his first day back in competition there were reminders of just how much things have changed. the scandal looming large over woods' return to the game. >> were aware of the plane that was flying overhead and how did you feel about it? >> i didn't see it. >> reporter: on the grounds woods received a warm welcome back. thousands followed the superstar. >> it was incredible all day. >> playing well. i got to see him a couple of times and i thought he was playing great. >> reporter: clearly pleased to see his golf came can leaf him two shots within the leader. >> just played some golf. >> reporter: many fans eager to return their focus to the game. >> what did it mean to you? >> it meant two shots off the lead. that's what it means.

i'm here to play golf. >> reporter: even if for some the scandal is hard to ignore. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, augusta. >> tiger tees off this morning at 10:35. antibacterial soap ingredient may pose a risk. there's an ingredient that reduces bacterial contamination. the review comes after animal studies show the chemical may make bacterial resistant to antibiotics. you can use regular soap and water to get the job done just as well. maryland could be a step closer to banning hand-held cell phone use behind the wheel. the house of delegation plan to vote on the bill. the state senate narrowly passed it last month. those who get caught using a

regular hand-held phone will face a fine. stay tuned for . news 4 at 5:00 begins right now. smoke out. why the foreign diplomat at the center of the air scare is about to hop another plane right out of the country. the search continues, rescue teams are deep inside the earth looking for any signs of those missing miners. good morning and welcome to "news4 today." i'm joe krebs. i'm eun yang. it's friday, april 9, 2010. a strong spring storm lit up the sky in the district and caused some serious damage across our area. high winds brought down trees and power lines. the biggest tree came down in the 200 block of eight street. some of the branchs here landed on those cars. no one was hurt. >> looks like most of those storms, except for a little drizzle this morning are out of the area. what does it look like, chuck?

>> things are on their way up again. improving weather conditions. the rain showers that we desperately needed because we went more than a week and a half without any rainfall not to mention the pollen count. if you just came into town from some other planet we've been suffering with some of the worst pollen in years. pollen count in the 3,000 to 4,000 range. all of that is a thing of the past. you can see couple of sprinkles now southern prince george's county, northern parts of charles county, all of these showers are moving away from the washington area. so out into manassas and leesburg and winchester, martinsburg, hagerstown, frederick, maryland you're done with the rain showers. show you on the bigger view there you can see the cluster of showers, the heaviest of the rain now over the eastern shore and headed out off the delaware beaches. you get the sense here can definitely tell all that rain is pulling away from the quarter so things will be on the up and up

from here on out. temperatures are in the mid-50s around town this morning but notice up here to our north and west hagerstown 48. pittsburgh current temperature 39 degrees. as cooler and noticeably drier air spills in, sunshine back by late morning early afternoon. the showers will be coming to an end. sunshine returns. stay cool and breezy today with highs in the upper 50s and low 60s. northeast winds today 15 to 20 miles per hour. but i'm very optimistic that this will be the weekend we all wanted. temperatures feeling more like april as opposed to the middle of summer. we need to get in and out of work safely. on the capital beltway in virginia live pictures near the interchange of the gw parkway moving along pretty well even though it may not be actively range where you are. the roads may still be a little wet. do exercise great care.

we're concerned on this ramp from the gw parkway northbound to the loop. now quiet. south of town to the wilson bridge, prince george's county traveling route 4 to the wilson bridge travel lanes do remain open. nothing major on the roster at this point. back to you. we're learning more about a d.c. based diplomat who caused an emergency scare in the sky after lighting a cigarette on an airplane. the qatari diplomat was on his way to visit a convicted terrorist. elaine reyes joins us live from the newsroom with the latest. >> that's right. officials plan to sends mohammed al madadi home to qatar and he has to be gone today. as a diplomat he has immunity in the united states but no word on how his country plans to hand tell situation. we've learned more about his trip to colorado. he was flying to denver to meet with an al qaeda agent behind bars.

the man that you see here was convicted of conspiring to support terrorism after the 911 attacks. it's common for diplomats to visit countrymen to ensure they are receiving fair treatment. his plane got a fighter jet escort while landing the other day after he joked about lighting his shoe on fire. >> from what i know, everything was done right. what he did was stupid and irresponsible. >> mohammed al madadi returned to washington yesterday. the qatari ambassador called the incident a mistake and asked people not to rush to judgment. new today nato is trying to determine whether insurgents are behind the crash of a u.s. aircraft that killed four people. it went down in the southeast province of kabul. nato says it can't confirm that insurgents shot it down.

no word whether any of the people were americans. rescuers are not giving up hope that they will find four missing miners in west virginia. rescue efforts are under way again this morning days after that explosion that killed 25 people. jay gray right now is live in raleigh county, west virginia with the latest. jay, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, joe. crews are pumping nitrogen into the mine right now trying to keep the air quality safe and provide a window for what officials are calling a mad dash for answers here. for the third time since monday's explosion, an anxious and determined group of rescue members made their way into the upper big branch mine sometime after midnight. >> we'll be in a position to make a mad dash. >> reporter: carrying four extra oxygen masks the crew will push towards two reinforced saft ti chambers about five miles inside the mine. experts agree the only way the four missing miners could have

survived is if they made to it these safe havens stock with food, water and oxygen. >> i've been praying that they are going to come out alive. and i hope my miracle will come true. >> reporter: as they ray for that miracle they must prepare for the reality of the lives that were lost. today recovery teams will begin the grim task of removing the bodies of those miners who died in the blast. >>it's going to be a slow process. we got to respect the bodies. i don't have a time frame on it. we'll just try to do it as soon as possible. >> families are relieved, and knowing that this process is starting, the ends will be near. >> reporter: a somber journey home for a group of miners now embraced and remembered as heroes here. now officials are in constant communication with the rescue teams and say they expect to have some new information within just a few hours here. live in west virginia, i'm jay

gray, joe and eun, back to you. >> thank you. the first funerals will be held today for those miners killed in monday's explosion. friends, families and colleagues will gather today to say good-bye to a montgomery police officer. 31-year-old hector ayala died in wheaton while responding to a call from another officers. yesterday a large crowd of officers, families and friends attend his viewing. his funeral will be held today in olney. he leaves behind a 14-month-old son and a wife who is expecting triplets in june. d.c. mayor adrian fenty is getting ready to deliver his state of the district address. the mayor is expected to talk about major reforms over the past inquiry that have led to stronger schools and safer streets. mayor fenty is up for re-election this fall.

>> 5:07 is your time. the first lady's food fight taking place today. >> donovan mcnabb is in washington to play football but right now he's thinking about basketball. whom he wants to play. >> we went to summer now it's spring. chuck has a look at the frida

good friday morning.

i'm meteorologist chuck bell. it is 5:11 on your friday morning. on a day that feels completely different than any other day we've had this week. temperatures not in the 60s and 70s. we're in the 40s and 50s now. 54 at national airport. 51 degrees at fairfax. 46 in winchester. still a little bit of rain left mainly across parts of southern maryland. down to st. mary's city, california, maryland, leonardtown all getting light showers. not a lot of heavy rain left. northbound into charles county couple of sprinkles but that's about it. you can see all the clearing out now back out to the north and west of town. a beauty of a day today. morning showers should be out of here by 8:00, 9:00 at the latest. sunshine will return by later on this afternoon. highs today, though, only 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. jerry, i think you'll appreciate

the difference, mother nature washed all that pollen out of air. >> big difference out there this morning. we have one beltway crash, top side of your screen inner loop of the beltway approaching i-66. police have been on the scene of this accident for a little bit. right side of the roadway is blocked, left side gets by. traffic running slowly past the scene. drive in from the north along 270 from i-70 headed to germantown you're looking pretty good. little wind whipped out there this morning so be careful. no major accidents in the 270 corridor down the split. eun and joe, back to you. our time 5:12. 55 degrees. a traffic nightmare about to become a reality. >> when streets will be shut down and you may actually be asked by the secret service to show your i.d. >> gettysburg going low tech. what changes the visitors to the historic battlefield will notice. >> donovan mcnabb youtube message. what he wants to do now that

i'm lucy sykes. i'm a fashion stylist. what i do is dress people for magazines and tv. my job is to hunt down the best fashion and stay on budget. my secret? t.j.maxx. their buyers have their finger on the pulse of what's on trend. they buy directly from designers and you see the savings! i dress fashionistas. but i'm a maxxinista. t.j.maxx. let us make a maxxinista out of you!

our time right now is 5:15. qatar is recalling the diplomat who set off a terror scare aboard an airplane. mohammed al madadi is expected to be out of the united states by today. he took an illegal smoke break on a flight from d.c. to denver and joked about lighting his shoes on fire. rescuers will attempt again today to reach four trapped miners in west virginia. crews will pump nitrogen into the coal mine to try to flush out dangerous gases. they admit they are losing hope they will find any of the miners alive. 25 people were killed when the explosion rocked the mine on monday. mayor fenty will address his fourth state of the district

address this morning. mayor fenty is up for re-election this fall and being challenged by current d.c. council chair vincent gray. tiger woods is two shots off the lead at the master. he shot a 68 yesterday in his first-round of competitive golf since taking a hiatus to deal with personal problems. he heard mostly cheers but a jeer through from a plane. today president barack obama wraps up his trip to prague. yesterday he and his russian counter part signed a treaty to reduce arsenals by a third. it still needs approval of lawmakers in both countries. >> the team will spend a lot of time meeting with individual senators and the staffs of the next many months to make this happen. >> now the president looks to the nuclear summit here in washington next week.

israel's prime minister backed out, worried its nuclear arsenal will be a summit issue. president obama will now bring that nuclear summit to washington. that's going to cause some problems for a lot of folks trying to get to and around downtown d.c. many traffic and parking restrictions will be in place and some of those begin today. news 4 megan mcgrath joins us now live with details on all that. good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning. with more than 40 heads of state coming to washington for this summit can you bet that security is going to be extremely tight. now you can see we're right across the street from the convention center on l street and you can see the stacks of metal fencing we have lining this entire street. they will begin later today actually assembling these very heavy metal sections that will create a safety perimeter around the convention center. the summit is taking place monday and tuesday at the convention center and this secure zone will be off limits to traffic and there is going to

be a lot of restrictions in terms of pedestrian traffic. of course there are residents around here, an apartment complex across the street. those folks have to show i.d. and proof of residency. traffic will be limited in the area to just the motorcades in a police activity and that means that major roads are going to be impacted. new york avenue, massachusetts of a enough and the area around the convention center, those roads are going to be closed. we're also going to see all kind of parking restrictions in the area as well as rolling road closures as the motorcades move through the area getting dig any tears to and from the convention center. the summit on monday and tuesday. this could have a huge impact on rush hour traffic, on people who are out and about trying to go to and from work on both monday and tuesday. this will be a big issue for folks who are in the washington area monday and tuesday. we'll begin to see some of the

impact tonight, the police chief says 7:00 p.m. tonight that's when some of the roads will be shut down. they will remain closed through the weekend and into the early part of next week, in some cases roads will re-open tuesday, in other cases not until wednesday morning. and keep in mind those parking restrictions are pretty widespread. so not much parking for folks either. you're just going to have to plan ahead. the best advice is if you don't have to be in this area the best thing to do is avoid the area around the convention center entirely. back to you. >> sounds like a good plan. metro riders will be affected. the mound vernon metro station will close at 9:00 in the evening on sunday. remain closed until 5:00 a.m. on wednesday. trains will be passing through the station during that time. riders will not be allowed to get off. 13 metrobus routes will be affected by street closures in

that area. pennsylvania's gettysburg battlefield is getting a makeover. the park service is trying to restore the battlefield to the way it looked during the civil war. yesterday a backhoe ripped the roof off a comfort station. power lines will be taken down. many describe the battle of gettysburg as the war's turning point. union troops turned back general robert e. lee's army in july of 1863. today at the white house first lady michelle obama will focus on battling the bulge with children. she will hold a childhood obesity forum. mrs. obama says the epidemic threatens an entire generation of children. she sat down and talked with jim vance. >> it's really critical for me for kids of all ages and races to really feel like this white house is theirs. and that they are going come in here and they will hear music and go to the easter egg roll

and sit in the state dining room and feel what it's like to be part of the state dinner because i think it can change the way kids see themselves. you know, if you see it can you believe it. and i want them to see themselves here. >> and you can find much more of jim vance's one on one interview with the first lady online. head to nbcwashington.com, the story is right there on our home page. donovan mcnabb is wasting no time trying to fit into washington. in a new video just posted on youtube he's letting us know what one of the first things to do in d.c. he would like to do. >> being here in d.c., only one thing i want to start by doing, getting a chance to play basketball with obama. >> no word if the president is listening or if he's a redskins fan. we do know he likes to play basketball. donovan mcnabb actually played college basketball while at

syracuse university. he'll let you know if they get together for some hoops. not only to play there he was on the team that went to the final for you in 1996. >> mr. president, there's your challenge. let's get a check on our traffic and weather together. let's start with chuck bell who is in for tom kierein. >> donovan has a pretty good size advantage on the president. you still want to try to block donovan mcnabb. he's 6'5", 220 pounds. that's the elbow you don't want to get in the way. >> and playing with the secret service around you. take it easy. >> absolutely right. just a few lingering sprinkles out there in prince george's county out to the south side of annapolis. most of the rain is on its way out. temperatures are in the 50s now. bus stop weather for the kids, one or two little umbrellas. if you can find the umbrella, don't worry it will be dry by recess and dry all weekend.

>> along i-95 northbound between lorton and newington, there are the two buses. they are on the shoulder of the express lanes. one bus has a flat tire. the other bus is either just waiting for the other one to get repaired or transferring folks. travel lanes are open drawing very little attention. that's good news. let's see how we're doing up the road. along 395 to the 14th street bridge lanes are open and moving along very nicely. back to you. 5:23 is your time. this morning the message from arlington police. >> what can brown do for you? how about a job? why that company is getting ready to hire thousands of employees. >> a popular antibacterial soap

a health alert this morning about antibacterial soap. the federal drug administration will review the chemical called triclosan. it was used to reduce and prevent bacterial contamination in. soaps, body washes, furniture and toys. this review comes after animal studies show that chemical may make bacteria resistant to antibacterials. u.p.s. is hiring. they are planning to hire about 25,000 drivers over the next five years. that is to replace baby boomers slated to retire. drivers for u.p.s. make an average of $74,000 a year. good paying job. >> what am i doing here?

because i'm a baby boomer for one thing. 5:26 is the time. 55 degrees. what's ahead for the foreign diplomat involved in the terror scare on a plane out of d.c. you may have slipped right through them, some bad

. holding out hope.

the rescue efforts resumes in west virginia. diplomat sent packing. good morning, welcome back to "news4 today." i'm eun yang. >> i'm joe krebs on this friday, april 9, 2010. we're taking a live look outside. the lincoln memorial off in the distance. 55 degrees. significantly cooler than yesterday after some heavy rains came down yesterday night. much needed relief from the pollen that was covering our area. >> you saw that flash of lightning. this spring storm left some damage. high winds brought down trees and power lines. the biggest tree came down in the 200 block ever 8th street. some branchs landed on some cars. no one was injured. pretty significant storm to bring down trees and power lines. chuck is all over it now? >> yes. 99% of the rain we're going to get has already fallen. just a few lingering sprinkles down in southern maryland and one or two more lonely rain

drops south of town, down south of fredericksburg area. take a check. couple of sprinkles. central eastern portions of prince george's county, southern anne arundel county. one more lonely shower down here in spotsylvania. that's drifting off to the east. not bothering anybody. by and large most of the rain is done with us at this point in time. how much rain did we get? a lot of spots got an inch of rain. quantico, virginia just under an inch. current temperature 52. silver spring, maryland, 0.75 inch of rain. our forecast for today, sunshine coming back, the highs will stay in the upper 50s and low 60s today but that's all right. jerry ed john edwards, the weekend is looking fantastic. >> we'll look forward to that. right now it appears the pavement is drying out around most of the area. 95 northbound, the hov lanes between lorton and newington two buses remain on the right

shoulder. a few brake lights as folks slow down and travel lanes in all directions, just want to make sure all lanes do appear to be open. let's head on over and update you on college park. inner loop and outer loop between greenbelt and silver spring moving along pretty well. out on the rails, metro rail, vre and marc reporting no early delays. back to you. thank you. the qatari diplomat whose spoke break caused a bomb scare is leaving the country approximately he'll no longer live in arlington or the united states. we're also learning why he was on that plane in the first place. jackie bensen reports. >> reporter: it was a harrowing night for the passengers aboard a united airlines flight. though it ended safely. >> quite an inconvenience but better than a tragedy. >> reporter: flight 653, a 757 like this one was on its way to a scheduled stop in denver before going to las vegas when a passenger in first class spent a

long time in the bathroom. federal investigators say when he came out a flight attendant smelled smoke and notified two federal air marshalls on board. they questioned the man, 27-year-old mohammed al madadi from the persian gulf nation of qatari. he was on official business to check on the treatment of a federal prisoner, ali al marri, convicted last year of being an al qaeda sleeper agent in the u.s. when mohammed al madadi was asked about his smoking in the bathroom he replayed sarcastically trying to light my shoe on fire and refused to give up his lighter. the pilot sent an emergency message and the faa immediately relayed warnings to other planes in the air recorded by the website. >> be advised that u.s. air carrier has reported a passenger has attempted to ignite his shoes on fire. the pilots are to maintain extra vigilance and report any anomalies. >> reporter: two fighter jets

were sent to escort the flight. mohammed al madadi wearing sandal was searched but no explosives were found. a frequent critic of the department of homeland security says the government's response this time jufts right. >> the air marshalls did exactly the right thing and what he did was absolutely stupid and irresponsible. >> reporter: jackie bensen, "news4 today." >> we're following a developing story out of west virginia. rescue efforts are under way to reach four missing miners. the air has been deemed safe enough to enter the mine. elaine reyes has the latest. good morning. >> good morning. it has been a long and frustrating process because the crews got very close to the safe chambers yesterday but had to turn back after bad gases filled the mine. this morning rescue crews will be able to most faster than yesterday's attempt after discovering a shortcut. at the same time other teams are working on recovering the bodies

of the dead. 25 miners died and four others are missing after the worst mine disaster in more than 20 years. rescuers hope to reach the possible survivors in two survival chambers. it's deadline for supplies and oxygen ends later today. right now teams are also pumping nitrogen into the structure to keep taxpayer level safe during this rescue process. >> the intent was for that fan to pull all the bad air out of there and have rescue team members with the ability to go into this area without the use of oxygen and be bare faced. in that world they would be table recover bodies immediately when they found them. unfortunately, that wasn't the case. and to be safe we now want to use the nitrogen to ensure that we do not go back into that explosive range. >> the west virginia governor plans to give a briefing on the rescue operation in about an hour from now at 6:30. they expect to have some answers about the possible survivors later today, possibly this

morning. back to you. >> elaine reyes, thank you. police officers in montgomery county will gather this morning to say good-bye to one of their own. 31-year-old heck terrify ayala died last weekend while responding to a call for assistance from another trooper. yesterday a large crowd of officers, family members and friends attended his viewing. the funeral will be held today at st. peter's catholic church in olney. he leaves behind a 14-month-old son and his wife who is expecting triplets in june. he's a suspect in a crime. police are looking for a man in a string of racist vandalism. u.s. park police are looking for this man. he's considered a suspect in graffiti at some of the area's most scenic spots. a trail along george washington parkway, francis scott park and u.s. mile-an-hour corps memorial. the vandal painted swastikas and other racist messages.

>> we've had contact with this person. we don't know he's responsible for this particular graffiti but woe like to speak with him because we believe it may have some link to work he's done in the past. >> if you see him do not approach him. call 911 instead. >> you can feel safer if you live in arlington. crime is down in that county. arlington police say overall crime was down 3.7% last year compared to 2008. violent crime was down more than 8%. the number of crimes per 100,000 people was 2,413. police say they cannot take all the critedit. a woman has been charged with a shooting in howard county but police have not found the

guantanamoman happen she's charged with being an accessory to the shooting. some residents got into a fight with people in a nearby hotel. two people were shot in the leg. officers are still looking important the trigger man in the case. they are looking for the gunman in an unrelated shooting that happened not very far away. 5:38. 55 degrees. ahead whether you drive, walk or use public transportation it could affect you. >> the major traffic disruptions that you'll tart noticing this weekend. >> drivers standing up against a mega airline merger. next a wet morning after a storm overnight. will we stay dry this weekend? weather and traffic are

a good friday morning. i'm news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. it's 5:41 on a very pleasantly clearing out friday morning. here's a check of live doppler. a few lonely little sprinkles left in prince george's county. a few sprinkles now in southern anne arundel county south of annapolis down towards shady side, north side of chesapeake beach. that's about it. couple of showers in st. mary's county. those are headed out over the open waters of the bay. temperatures in the low 50s now

across the area. a nice day. showers coming to an end. sunshine back by mid to late morning in a lot of spots west of town. highs today in the upper 50s and low 60s. a nice turn around from yesterday. seven day forecast in ten minutes. >> on the beltway inner loop at i-66 accident remains. it's been out there for a while. beginning to have an impact. inner loop at 66 right side of the roadway blocked stay left. this is affecting traffic trying to exit from 66 eastbound to get on to the inner loop. out in montgomery county authorities on the scene of an accident. reportedly a pedestrian struck at new hampshire of a enough and lockwood drive. at the moment traffic able to get by with no delay. back to you. 5:42 is your time. ahead a lockdown is coming. >> where streets in district will be shut down starting this weekend and why that can impact you even if you're not driving. plus the smithsonian is getting into the jewelry business. who they are teaming up with. tiger tees off and proves

he's back. why yesterday was one of his best ever at the masters. >> tiger likes to drive.

on the tee, tiger woods! >> tiger woods is back where he feels most comfortable right there on the golf course. tiger might be a bit rusty or unprepared think again. he's two shots off the thread and had the best first round of his masters career yesterday. kristen dahlgren reports it's clear things are quite different for him in augusta. >> reporter: they were scenes golf fans had seen so many times before. tiger woods sinking it, smiling, celebrating an amazing shot. >> got to tell you one of the best moments i saw when he was on 9. we were on the green. didn't know where he was. he was about 10 feet away from

cup. >> i thought i hit the ball well all day. didn't make a lot of putts. >> reporter: in his first day back in competition there were also reminders of just how much things have changed. the scandal looming large over woods' return to the game. >> were you aware of the airplane flying overhead on a couple of occasions and how do you feel that someone went to such extreme lengths to poke fun. >> i didn't see it. >> reporter: woods received a warm welcome back. >> it was incredible all day. >> thought he was playing well. i got to see him a couple of times. >> reporter: clearly pleased to see his golf game can leave him two shots within the leader. >> throughout his personal life, let's play golf. >> reporter: many fans eager to return their focus to the game. >> what did it nene you? >> it meant i'm two shots off the lead.

that's what it means. i'm here to play golf. >> reporter: even if for some the scandal is still hard to ignore. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, augusta. >> and tiger tees off again this morning at 10:35. president obama will be hosting world leaders at a nuclear summit in d.c. next week but starting today security restricts will be in place around the washington convention center and that will likely cause major headaches for those who live and work in the area. news 4 megan mcgrath joins us from northwest washington with more. i can't imagine the problems this will cause. >> reporter: it is going to be a tough go for folks who live or drive through area immediately surrounding the convention center. we'll start to see some things kicking in tonight and then more and more restrictions will start to take effect as we go into the weekend and certainly by sunday the night before the big summit here. people will have to be patient. take a look at these barriers we've got. these are big stacks of heavy metal barriers.

what they will do is start putting all of these together, linking them together to create walls and those walls will go up all along the streets surrounding the convention center. they are setting up a security zone and limit the access of pedestrians and traffic to this entire area all around the convention center. people who live in that secure zone and there are apartment buildings and homes in this area, those folks are going to have to show i.d., show proof of residency and go through security checkpoints in order to get to their homes. also traffic is not going to be allowed through the security zone either, it will be limited to motorcades and police and other emergency personnel so that's going to create a traffic situation. we're talking about major arteries, massachusetts avenue, new york avenue as well as the other numbered streets that cut through this area. all of those will be closed off. there are parking restrictions as well. on the street where we're

stanning the parking restrictions take effect at 7:00 tonight. in some cases they will last through tuesday and other cases through wednesday. so you're just going to have to be patient for the next several days. the summit is on monday and tuesday which is a working day for a lot of people. so we're going to see an impact with rush hour certainly. also keep in mind that not just the area around here, the dignitaries have to get back and forth and move around the city. we'll have rolling road closures as those motorcades make their way to and from the summit. it will be a tough go. folks will have to be patient. >> aren't there businesses in that area as well? >> reporter: there are businesses in the area. what they have been told is that their customers will be allowed to go. they will have to go through security checkpoints to access that business but they will be allowed to go through if they say they are going to a specific business to buy something. but you got to think are people really going to do that?

will they want to put up with the hassle of security. we'll have to wait and see. >> megan mcgrath in northwest washington, thank you. metro riders will be affected by this summit. mound vernon convention metro station will close at 9:00 p.m. on sunday and remain closed until 5:00 a.m. on wednesday. trains will pass through that station but riders can't get off. 13 metrobus routes will be affected. if you visit the gettysburg battlefield this summer it may look more historic and more uncomfortable for you. the park service is trying to restore to the battlefield the way it looked during the civil war. yesterday a backhoe ripped off the roof of this building that housed some rest rooms. union troops turned back general robert e. lee's army in july of 1863. the most radical president ever, that's how former house speaker newt gingrich is

describing barack obama. he made the assessment during the opening of the southern republican low pressure conference in new orleans. he accused the president of running a secular socialist machine. gingrich is considering a run for the white house in 2012 and many say this rhetoric is an indication he's thinking of entering the race. you've been to the smithsonian and maybe purchased something at the gift shop. now soon you can shop for jewelry inspired by the museum. the smithsonian is teaming up with the home shopping network qvc to create a line of jewelry. you'll be inspired by the gems and mineral collection at the museup of natural history. they hope to educate the public about the smithsonian and their gems. you can buy the collection beginning this fall. >> i imagine that they are not real diamonds and real gems that you're purchasing on qvc.

otherwise it's too much money. >> based on reality. >> nice pieces. chuck, you in the market for a hope diamond? >> you can buy your wife a little bauble. send the website off to robert and he can pick you up a star of india or something like that. >> don't have to say where it's from. >> don't tell him it's just glass. anyway, wow, what a change we've had across the washington area. last night showers and thunderstorms came rolling into the area. a lot of people caught offguard without their umbrellas. you can spot a nonchannel 4 watcher any time. there's one. we love her. she wasn't watching channel 4. we told you the showers would be rolling in here between 6:00 and 8:00. but at 7:33 last night the sky opened up where i was. 54 our current temperature in downtown with a northwest wind at 15 miles per hour. yesterday's high 83. yesterday's pollen 3300.

it was a tough one to be outside. temperatures around the rest of the area in the upper 40s and low 50s and we're going have a slow climb today to the high 50s and low 60s. few sprinkles right along the potomac in western charles county, few more sprinkles in southern calvert and st. mary's county and few more over here to the south side of annapolis. most of the rain is gone. rainfall amounts half an inch to an inch on average across the area. the real story for today, look at the temperatures back up to the north and west, below freezing across the upper midwest, all part of a very big change in the weather that's moved in. the cold front is blasting its way offshore and we'll get a return of sunshine here by this afternoon. a very pleasant day today. your weekend is a-okay, jerry. sunshine is back this afternoon. sticks around all weekend. 65 on saturday. 76 on sunday. >> sounds good. good news continues on the beltway inner loop right side of your screen, earlier accident on

the inner loop approaching i-66 appears to have been cleared. if not completely removed from sight over the shoulder the volume increase an speeds are beginning to pick up. be forewarned already heavy as you head north from 236 on the inner loop towards 66 and tysons corner. let's head on over and update you on new hampshire avenue and lockwood drive. authorities are on the scene. a pedestrian was struck. again, just a good reminder road will be a bit slick because of the overnight rain. quick check out on the rails. metro rail and vre rail doing fine. marc train 870 delayed. maryland could be a step closer to banning hand-held cell phone use behind the wheel. the state senate narrowly passed it last month. it would require drivers to use hands free devices. those who get caught using a regular cell phone will face a $40 fine.

this morning more talk of an airline mega merger between united airlines and usa airways but not everyone is on board. the pilots for u.s. airway say they have no problem but united pilots are not optimistic. they are opposed to any plans to combine the two airlines and consumers also have reason to be skeptical. analysts say it could lead to less competition and higher fare%. spirit airlines announced it will start charge people for their carry on bags this summer and that's bad news for flyers who have been bringing their bags on board to avoid the cost of checking them. these baggage fees are more than just a pain in the neck. >> reporter: make no mistake that fees to check your luggage on most airlines. >> carrying as much as i can. >> reporter: have many passengers cramming as much as they can into their carry on bags. >> rarely can you get your bags

in the overhead because everybody is carrying on. >> reporter: a survey just released by the association ever flight attendants reveals -- >> more bumped heads and more things falling out. >> reporter: just that. according to the crew members surveyed 80% said they experienced an injury helping ticket holders place their luggage in the overhead bins. half of them said they have witnessed bags fall out. naomi bag is pretty big. >> reporter: something that was witnessed firsthand. >> were they okay? >> yeah, they were all right. i think so. i don't know. i didn't stick around. >> reporter: american airlines is crying foul. they've seen no increase in injuries. the only reason the overhead bipartisanships are crowded because more flights are full. still when it comes to trying to avoid paying a fee to check a bag, those on board may actually feel your pain. >> the bag fell on a person's head and caused an injury.

>> you can also stow your carry on bags under the seat. two astronauts are spacewalking outside of the international space station. they are removing a new amonia tank. they will replace the old tank that supplied the cooling system. it will take three space walks to complete the job. the duo was supposed to do some battery work along the sprawling power truss but nasa cancelled that test because of the concern that the two might get shocked out there. >> not an easy job. >> no. >> what kind of training do you have to do for that? >> a lot of it. >> what you won't see my more along a popular hot spot. >> and what you can do on the ipad and iphone that you couldn't do before. >> storms rolled through last night. caused some damage in the area.

nice change in the forecast. we'll have you

rescue mission crews have entered a west virginia coal mine to look for those four missing workers but is there any hope they will find them alive. we're learning more about the diplomat who smoked a cigarette on board a plane and now being transferred. good morning for joining us today. i'm eun yang. i'm joe krebs on this date. 55 degrees. considerably cooler almost by 20 degrees from yesterday. because of the rains that moved in. >> it was a nice morning, nice and cool. we're really happy the pollen has been washed away. can you feel that? >> you know, i wasn't even an

allergy sufferer. but just didn't matter. you walked outside and 3300 grains ever pollen in a cubic meter of air. so that was a lot. even i was sniffling and sneezing because there was a lot of pollen matter trying to get in my eyes and nose. outside this fine morning the rains have cleaned the air quite effectively. 54 downtown. look at all the 40s now up to the north and west. 46 in martinsburg. little bit of rain still left in far southern maryland but most of the rain is on its way out of the area. temperatures are in the mid-50s right now. threw can see on the satellite radar combination the push of showers and thunderstorms that came roaring through here between about 7:30 and midnight last night. now those rain showers are on their way out. a pleasant day today. temperatures are going to make it up in the upper 50s and low 60s for high temperatures this afternoon and the weekend, i'm

very optimistic about the weekend. sunshine, brisk northwesterly wind. tomorrow morning will be chilly, freeze warnings up in far southwestern virginia. could even be a little frost in the shenandoah valley and the potomac highlands by tomorrow morning. >> wow. whiplash, chuck. let's head on out. chopper 4 is on the job for us this morning as they take off and check things out. coming out of laurel, baltimore washington parkway 32 to 197 looking pretty good, the road is still on the damp side. keep your speeds down watch your braking distance. volume only at this early hour making the drive in. 95 virginia headed up from lorton lanes are open. buses on the shoulder in the hov lanes do remain on the shoulder last check. minor distraction at this point. now on route 5 coming out of waldorf heads up, route 5 northbound at briantown road a truck lost a load of bedroom furniture in the right lane right in front of the shell

station. coming northbound at route 5 at briantown road look out for the furniture in the travel portion of the roadway. not some place you would normally see a furniture sale. >> not at all. thanks, jerry. >> we're following a developing story out of west virginia where efforts to rescue four trapped miners have resumed. they have not been seen since monday's explosion. jay gray has the latest on those rescue efforts. >> reporter: for the third time an anxious and determined group of rescue members made their way into the upper big branch mine sometime after midnight. >> we'll be in a position this evening or this morning to make a mad dash. >> reporter: carrying four extra oxygen masks the crew will push words to two reinforced safety chambers about five miles inside the mine. experts agree the only way the four missing miners could have survived is if they made it to these safe havens stock with

food, water and oxygen. >> i've bren praying and hoping that they are going to come out alive and i hope my miracle will come true. >> reporter: as they pray for that miracle they must prepare for reality of the lives that were lost. today recovery teams will begin the grim task of removing the bodies of those miners who died in the blast. >> it's going to be a slow process. we got respect the bodies, and i don't have a time frame on it. we're just going to try to do it as soon as possible. >> i believe families are relieved, and knowing that this process is starting, which the end will be near. >> reporter: a somber journey home for a group of miners now embraced and remembered as heroes here. officials are in constant communication with the rescue teams and expect to have new information in just a few hours. >> president obama has asked federal mine safety officials to

report next week on what might have caused the deadly explosion. lighting up, touching down and now he's going home. we're learning more about that d.c. based diplomat who caused an emergency scare in the sky after smoking a cigarette on the airplane. the qatari diplomat was on his way to visit an al qaeda terrorist. elaine reyes joins us from the newsroom with more on this. good morning. >> good morning. mohammed al madadi has to leave the country and go back to qatar by today. as a diplomat he has immunity in the united states but word is he's being reassigned. we've also learned more about his trip to colorado. he was flying to denver to meet with an imprisoned al qaeda agent. the convicted terrorist was a sleeper agent after the 9/11 attacks. it's common for diplomats to visit countrymen behind bars to ensure they are receiving fair treatment. mohammed al madadi got a fighter

jet escort after he smoked in a bathroom then joked about lighting his shoe on fire. >> from all i know, the marshals did exactly the right thing and what he did was absolutely stupid and irresponsible. >> reporter: the "new york daily news" is reporting the cost of the entire incident $50,000. it costs several thousand to put those fighter jets in the air and then the airline gave passengers on the flight vouchers and paid for their hotels and taxis for the inconvenience. back to you. >> thanks so much. >> members of the montgomery county police department will gather this morning to say good-bye to a fellow officer. 31-year-old hector ayala died last week while responding to a call for help from another officer. he lost control of his cruiser and ran into a tree. yesterday a large crowd of officers, family members and friends attended his viewing. his funeral will be held today at st. peter's catholic church in olney. he leaves behind a 140-month-old

son and a wife who is expecting triplets in june. if you live in arlington, police say crime was down last year. overall crime fell 3.7% in 2009 compared to 2008. the number of crimes per 100,000 people in the county was also down by almost 100 in 2009. new today four people are dead after a u.s. air force aircraft went down in southeastern afghanistan. nato is still investigating what caused the crash in the province of kabul. the taliban said militants shot it down but insurgents made falls claims in the past. no word whether any victims were americans. 6:07 is the time. 55 degrees. coming up the traffic nightmare expected this weekend in d.c. why it will be difficult to travel around downtown. >> new redskins quarterback donovan mcnabb posts a message on youtube. what he says he wants to do while in washington. >> the rain is starting to move out of the area.

what will the weekend look like? your weather and traffic on the 1s next.

look at that beautiful dramatic sky. storms overnight left cooler temperatures this morning. finally washed away all the pollen we h had throughout the area. >> will we wash away all those clouds? let's go to meteorologist chuck

bell. >> plenty of clouds outside this morning. rain showers are nearly all gone at this point in time and we'll have sunshine back here probably for most everybody probably before lunch time today. that is welcomed news. outside here's a look at live doppler to set your mind at ease as to how much more rain you should expect. most everybody doesn't need to worry about another single drop. a couple of lonely sprinkles down here, south side of the capital beltway towards alexandria and mount vernon along the potomac there into southern prince george's county. another little rain drop or two down towards stafford, fredericksburg. moving off to the east. you folks in and around that area be on the lookout. rainfall amounts 3/4 of an inch or more. quantico, virginia 50 degrees with a northwest wind at 15 miles per hour. silver spring current temperature 49. a breezy and cool day today. high temperatures only in the upper 50s and low 60s. a huge turn around from the 90

plus weather we had two days already this week. jerry, over to you. >> let's check things out. in virginia 95 northbound and southbound for that matter. you should find the lanes open between fredericksburg and the beltway. but northbound along the way near the occoquan river had a broken down tractor-trailer squeezing the right lane a little bit. elsewhere, take a look on the beltway north of town left side of your screen outer loop a truck stopped at colesville road. may be a fluid leak. heads up and if we see any flashing lights we'll let you know. one more stop headed into town south capital street to the douglass bridge doing fine. reports of scattered power outages that will affect the traffic lights up on parts of pennsylvania avenue through southeast as well as south cap. bear that in mind. we'll keep you updated.

back to you. 6:12 is your time. coming up a major traffic alert. you want to pay attention if you're doing anything in the district in the next few days. >> what you won't see any more along a popular hot spot in the district. >> first lady michelle obama talks to news 4 why it's so important to reach out to kids in our area. >>it's critical for me for kids of all races and ages to feel

somewhere in america... there's a home by the sea powered by the wind on the plains. there's a hospital where technology has a healing touch. there's a factory giving old industries new life. and there's a train that got a whole city moving again. somewhere in america, the toughest questions are answered every day.

because somewhere in america, more than sixty thousand people spend every day answering them. siemens. answers. 6:15. time for a check of the morning's top stories. radius cuers are concerning for four missing miners in west virginia. crews spent the night pumping nitrogen into the mine to flush out dangerous gas. miners have been trapped since monday when an explosion killed 25 people. the qatari diplomat who caused a bomb scare are expected to be out of the country today. it happened wednesday when mohammed al madadi was flying from d.c. to denver. he was on official embassy

business on his way to visit an al qaeda sleeper agent in prison. a montgomery police officer will be laid to rest today. heck to ayala will be laid to rest. his funeral will be held this morning. he leaves behind a 14-month-old son and a wife who is expecting triplets in june. right now two astronauts are spacewalking outside of the international space station. these live photos of the spacewalk. amazing. they are removing a new ammonia tank from the space shuttle "discovery." it will take three space walks to complete that job. the duo was supposed to do some battery work along the sprawling power truck but nasa cancelled the work because of concerns the two might get shocked. tough job out there. >> beautiful pictures. brazil's government is sending troops to help search for survivors in a mudslide. the mountain of mud buried a

hillside slum in rio. it was triggered by the worse rains in four decades. already 161 people have been confirmed dead. rescuers say they have little hope of fining my more survivors because there does not appear to be many air pockets in the mud. president obama is on his way home this morning from prague. before departing he met with the president of the czech republic. yesterday he and his russian counter part signed a pact. the president looks to a nuclear summit here in washington next week. israel's prime minister backed out worried their nuclear arsenal will be a summit issue. dozens of world leaders will be traveling to washington and it will cause major traffic problems. parking restrictions and street closures will be in effect on many roadways surrounding the

washington convention center. many of those restrictions begin today. news 4 megan mcgrath joins us right now from northwest washington. she has more on this story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're here on l street right across the free-throw the convention center and attached to all the signs are these parking restrictions, notices. those restrictions kick in at 7:00 tonight. you'll also notice in front of me we have all of these big stacks of midwestal fencing sections. they are going to start to assemble these and create a safety perimeter around the convention center. there will be a big tall metal wall that will line the treats along the convention next and only people with business in the area will be allowed to pass through in that secure zone. this, of course, is a residential area. we have an apartment complex right across the street. those folks will have to pass through security checkpoints, have to show photo i.d. and proof of residency in order to

pass through into the security zone. businesses are going to be open. they are allowed to be open. but their customers are also going to have to explain what their business is, where they are going, pass through a security checkpoint and show i.d. as well. lots of parking restrictions. some of them kick in at 7:00 tonight. we'll see widespread road closures through the area or in the area surrounding the convention center and we're talking about major roadways. those closures, we're going to start seeing them on 7:00 p.m. on sunday. >> once those closures start to go into place you'll have access to certain roadways closed off. those roadways essentially by morning hours will extend from new york avenue up to m street and from 7th down to 11th. >> reporter: so you'll see a lot of activity in this area over the next couple of days as they assemble these fences. the summit is monday and

tuesday. back to you. thanks very much. metro riders will be affected by the summit. the mound vernon convention center metro station will close at 9:00 p.m. on sunday and remain closed kill 5:00 a.m. on wednesday. trains will be passing through the station during the time but riders will not be allowed to get off. 13 metrobus routes will also be affected by street closures in the area. first lady michelle obama will focus on battling the bulge with kids today at the white house. she will hold a childhood obesity forum with experts and doctors. mrs. obama said the epidemic threatens and entire generation ever young people. the first lady sat down with news 4 jim vance and talked about why it's so important to bring kids into the white house. >> it's really critical for me for kids of all races and ages to really feel like this white house is theirs and that they are going to come in here and they will hear music and go to the easter egg roll and sit in the state dining room and feel what it's like to be part of the

state dinner because i think it can change the way kids see themselves. you know, if you see it you can believe it and i want them to see themselves here. >> you can fine much more of jim vance's one on one interview with the first lady online. just head to nbcwashington.com. the story is on our home page. donovan mcnabb is wasting no time trying to fit into washington, d.c. and a new video he posted on youtube. he's now letting us know what one of the first things d.c. things he would like to do. >> hello, everybody, this is donovan mcnabb your new washington redskins quarterback. being here in d.c., one thing i want to start by doing, get to play basketball with obama. >> no word whether the president is a redskins fan but we do know he does like to play basketball. what you may not know is donovan mcnabb actually did play college basketball while at syracuse university. not only that he was on the syracuse team that made to it

the final for you in 1996. we will certainly let you know whether he and the president get together for some hoops. >> that would be a good game. >> a lot of fun. >> a lot of folks that want to play basketball with the president. >> that's true. playing basketball with donovan mcnabb might cause you to get knocked on your kiester. >> possibly. >> he's big enough to take and receive a hit pretty good. no doubt about it. i'm going with mcnabb and the elbow. outside on a beautiful friday morning now, almost said wednesday, holy cow, temperatures have really dropped into the upper 40s and low 50s across the area. so a big change from yesterday. here's your check of live doppler. couple of sprinkles down towards stafford, virginia headed over to western charles county, maryland. few more lonely rain drops to mound vernon to alexandria over to the south side to the capital beltway. but by and large not an awful lot of rain out there. the clouds are going to be on their way out.

temperatures today will reach the upper 50s and low 60s with a blustery northwesterly within. complete opposite much yesterday. jerry? >> we'll check things out. chopper 4 taking a live look along interstate 270 southbound right at the beginning of the spur you can see the travel lanes are open. twinkling lights of the buses, getting ready to wick up some youngsters. couple traffic light problems new york avenue at florida avenue. they just came back on a couple of seconds ago. be careful and do be alert. top side of the beltway had an earlier issue, traffic is slow, outer loop getting past route 29 with a truck stopped on the right shoulder. that's how we're doing now. what you'll no longer see along u street any more. how you can get your hands on the hope diamond at the smithsonian. >> what tiger woods had to say about his return to golf.

it's definitely expensive having a growing family. and it's something that you think about. we try to be conscious of that and plan out our meals so that we can feed everyone on a budget. at giantwe know saving money is important. every time you shop with your card, you can enjoy thousands of real deal savings and weekly specials. like super g boneless chicken breasts, $1.99 a pound, and strawberries, 2-pound carton, $2.99. this week only. it makes me feel good because we're saving money. and that works for me. only with your giant card.

it can mean a few hot spots around 14th and u. there's a zoning decision in northeast d.c. bars and restaurants should take up 25% of the area. officials decided against granting any more building permits. critics say the decision will jeopardize future projects.

buy some bling, learn something. that's what the smithsonian is hoping to do with their partnership with the qvc. they are creating a line of jewelry that will inspired by the gem and mineral collection at the museum of natural history. they hope the line will educate the public about the smithsonian and its gems. you'll be able to buy this collection beginning this fall. >> versus nice. 6:27 is your time. why the diplomat who caused a bomb scare on a flight from d.c. to denver will not be causing problems any time soon. any moment we'll get an update from west virginia as rescue crews entered the mine looking for four missing miners. the results are in. what metro riders would rather have, a rate

rescue mission crews have entered are a west virginia coal mine to look for four missing workers. we'll get an update on their efforts at any moment now. good morning, welcome back to "news4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. we're taking a live look outside on this friday, april 9, 2010. heavy clouds still in the sin t some overnight storms. >> some people remain in the dark because of last night's storm. 1800 pepco customers have no power. dominion power is trying to restore electricity to more than 2100 people in northern

virginia. bge says more than 400 people have no more. most of those customers are in the baltimore area. >> a lot of those storms left from last night brought down trees and power lines overnight. the vein out of the area. >> absolutely right. 99.9% of the rain is done. just a couple of lonely little sprinkles out there for you this morning. one oe or two rain drops in pri george's county on the east side of the capital beltway, one or two more in charles county, maryland and literally an isolated drop or two down towards spotsylvania and far southern st. mary's county. that's about it for the rain showers. temperatures are in the 40s in the north and western suburbs and high spots. martinsburg 45. our forecast for the kids getting out to the bus stops, temperatures will be in the 40s and low 50s and i think that little girl can put her umbrella away now because it will be dry by recess. looks like it may be dry for everyone's ride into school. >> let's head out and see if the good news continues along

interstate 66 on the approach to the beltway. chopper 4 over the scene. everything is moving along relatively well. the accident from earlier on at 66 should be out of the roadway if not completely cleared. the volume through vienna from fair oaks looks pretty typical getting past dunn loring metro and all lanes are open. let's see how we're doing the trip into town. watching all the traffic cameras to see if we have any continuing traffic light issues. at least the ones i can find online are functioning properly. south kpral street coming up at branch avenue looking good. metro rail, vre and marc all reporting no delays at this hour. so good news. joe and eun? >> thanks. >> we're following developing story right now rescuers are back in a mine in west virginia trying desperately to find four missing miners. the rescue effort comes as hope begins to fade that any miners will be found alive days after

an explosion there killed 25 people. jay gray has the latest from rela county, west virginia. for the third time a determined rescue members made their way into the upper big branch mine sometime after midnight. >> we'll be in a position this evening or this morning to make a mad dash. >> reporter: carrying four extra oxygen masks the crew will push through four reinforced safety chambers aboutive miles inside the mine. the only way the four missing miners survived if they made it here stokds with food, water and oxygen. >> i've been praying, hoping they will come out alive. and i hope my miracle will come true. >> reporter: as they ray for that miracle they must prepare for the reality of the lives that were lost. today recovery teams will begin the grim task of removing the bodies of those miners who died in the blast. >>it's going to be a slow process. we got to respect the bodies.

i don't have a time frame on it. we'll just try to do it as soon as possible. >> families are relieved, and knowing that this process is starting, the end will be near. >> reporter: a somber journey home for a group of miners now embraced and remembered as heroes here. now officials are in constant communication with the rescue teams and say they expect to have some new information within just a few hours here. live in west virginia, i'm jay gray, joe and eun, back to you. we're waiting for a news conference from west virginia to begin at any moment now. this is a live picture of the podium. we'll bring it to you as soon as it happens. >> ling up, toumpg down and now he is going home. we're learning more about that d.c. based diplomat that caused an emergency scare in the sky after smoking on an airplane. the qatari diplomat was on his way to visit a convicted al

qaeda price per. he's being forced out of the united states. news 4 elaine reyes joins us now from the newsroom with more. >> good morning. as a diplomat he has immunity in the united states. but mohammed al madadi has to leave the country and go back to qatar by today. we learned more about his trip colorado to. he was flying to colorado to meet with an al qaeda agent convicted of terrorism. mohammed al madadi's plane got a fighter jet escort after he smoked in the bathroom and then joked about lighting his shoe on fire. the "new york daily news" reports the incident cost taxpayers more than $50,000. it cost several thousand to put the fighter jets in the sky and then united airlines gave the other passengers on the flight vouchers and paid for their hotels and taxis for the inconvenience because they were delayed five hours. >> quite frankly, it would be a very good faith offer on their

part to pay for the costs that were incurred here. >> the state department is not planning to seek compensation from qatar for the cost of the scare. there are reports that mohammed al madadi is being reassigned in his job. joe, back to you. >> thanks very much. police officers in montgomery county will gather today to say good-bye to one of their colleagues. 31-year-old heck to ayala died in wheaton last weekend while responding to a call for help from another officer. he lost control of his cruiser an ran into tree. yesterday friends and family members attended his viewing. his funeral will be held today in olney. he leaves behind a 14-month-old son and a wife who is expecting triplets in june. today d.c. mayor adrian fenty will deliver his fourth state of the district address. it will take place this morning at the new deanwood recreation center which is slated to open in northeast this summer. the mayor is expected to talk about major reforms over the past year that have led to

stronger schools and safer streets. mayor fenty is up for re-election this fall. "the today show" is live next at the top of the hour. let's go to meredith vieira in new york to see what they are working on. good morning. >> good morning to you. coming up on this friday morning on "the today show" rescue teams are headed back in that west virginia mine once again. they are now inside. word on the fate of those missing miners will come at any moment. then the one time producer of the hit show survivor questioned as a suspect in his wife's brutal murder. and tiger woods returns to golf with his best opening round at the masters ever and one very noticeable message from above. and then how to cope with the worst spring pollen season in years when we get started on a friday morning right here on "the today show." back to you. >> are you suffering? >> you know what? i normally do but i'm not. i don't get it. so far i haven't had anything. a lot of people here. a lot of sneezing, sore throats,

impy eyes. >> lucky you. have a great weekend. >> now to some breaking news we've been covering all morning long that disaster in west virginia a news conference is now under way. here is the gonch of west virginia speaking. >> over the top we want to make sure there's a visual that won't be done until this afternoon. and also trying to unearth the area which they made some decisions, everyone is in agreement on the decision. again the federal and state authorities who make those decisions, i think, have worked well together and come to a conclusion that there are some things that they must do from a safety standpoint. so with that being said i will let kevin explain to you and the families -- we just came back from the families. one chamber has been checked.

the chamber by our, right here, that has been visual. it was not deployed. it was intact not deployed. so we know there was nobody in that chamber. so, we have that one more chamber left to check and that's the concern and concentrated effort everybody has right now. with that i'll let kevin go ahead and give you a more detailed explanation. >> thank you. thank you, governor. last evening, as we came down and briefed you, the rescue teams went underground about quarter to 1:00 in the morning. and the intent of their work was to visit both underground rescue chambers. they proceed into the mine. they got to the first rescue chamber as the governor said.

located close to where the long wall face was. and it was not deployed. in that area where the rescue chamber was there were 900 parts per million right at the chamber. they then broke the plane and went towards what is head gate 22 and when they broke the plane and went in these four connecting entries, we have smoke in all four of those entries and the smoke is traveling from this side towards the long wall face indicating we have a fire somewhere. so, it was at that time that a decision was made to evacuate the rescuers and to begin the unearthing process that we talked about last evening. we have the nitrogen set up, ready to go at bore hole number one, that's the location in the

back of head gate 22 where we had been pulling -- where we have a fan that had been set up and pulling samples from. as soon as the rescue teams get outside an i'm sure they are out by now, the unearthing process begins by sticking nitrogen in. in addition to that, as the governor mentioned, we have some bore holes that are going, we're trying to put into the mine today, three bore holes that are of concern to us, or that we need. the first one and the most important is the bore hole that's going in close to the rescue chamber we could not visit. it's down approximately 400 feet and the intent is to drill feverishly and get that in as soon as we can, and the estimated time is somewhere around noon. now, when that bore hole goes in, the thing that we want to do is deploy the camera, stick it

down the bore hole, and see if that chamber has been deployed. in addition to that bore hole, we also have a bore hole towards the mouth of head gate 22, referred to as hole number four. that's about 445 feet down. that should go in sometime this afternoon and that's way for us to monitor at one location to see if the nitrogen has gotten to that point and help us unearth the area where we think the fire may be. and the third bore hole, it only has 100 feet to go to break through. >> well, we've been watching a news conference coming from west virginia. you were listening to kevin strictlin one of the rescue experts explaining some of the processes they are going through. they were taking the rescuers

out of the mine again because of smoke which indicates there was a fire down there. they are going to be putting nitrogen in to deacon at that my nature the area. >> the rescuers were inside the chamber, or inside the mine yesterday trying to search the rescuers. they were able to reach one of the rescue chambers and apparently none of the miners were in there. they are going to try to get back in there at noon. >> we'll take a break and come this is whole soy.

you might know that it has protein, but whole soy's also naturally packed... with fiber, antioxidants and other nutrients. and you can get whole soy, mixed together with real fruit, in soyjoy. and look for delicious new blueberry soyjoy.

good morning, everybody. i'm news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. time 6:45 on what is, yes, indeed, a friday morning. here's a check of live doppler. most if not all of the rain drops have come down and pulling out of the area. temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s. a noticeably cooler day. the sunshine will be back later today with highs in the low 60s. >> let's take to the air, chopper 4 over springfield where it's pretty quiet. top side of the beltway slowing about new hampshire avenue over to georgia avenue. lanes available there. one more stop, northeast, new

york avenue looks like all the traffic light problems we had earlier have been taken care of. just volume only at this hour. joe and eun, back to you. 6:47 is your time. even though he was back on the golf course how tiger woods could not hess cape the sex scandal surrounding him. >> a closed metro stop, the traffic nightmare that could become a reality. >> we'll go live to west virginia where

president obama is on his way home right now after signing a nuclear arms treaty in prague and while you were sleeping he met with the czech republic president. yesterday he and his russian counter part signed a treaty that would reduce the arsenals by a third. it still needs approval of lawmakers in both countries. the president looks to the nuclear summit here in washington next week. that summit in downtown washington starts on monday. people who live and work in the area will begin experiencing traffic issues as early as today. parking restrictions and the street closures will be in effect surrounding the

washington convention center. megan mcgrath joins us now from northwest washington with more. sounds like it will be a mess. >> reporter: it is going to be a tough go for folks who are either traveling through the area or live in this area. with more than 40 heads of state coming to this summit you can bet security will be tight. we're on l street. you can see these large stacks of metal fencing sections. they are going to start stringing these sections together and put up a security perimeter all around the area of the convention center and so they are going to limit access to the area. only pedestrians or people who live in the area or have business in the area are going to be allowed into that secure zone. they are going to have to pass through security checkpoints. residents will have to show proof they live there and photo i.d. and no traffic will be allowed through those motorcades and police. some of the road closures will

kick in sunday at 7:00. >> once those closures start to go into place, you'll have access to certain roadways closed off. so, those roadways, essentially, by morning hours will extend from new york avenue up to m street and from 7th down to 11th. >> reporter: so these are major roads that are being impacted in the area around the convention center but it's not just here either. we have these dig any tears moving around the city, getting to and from the summit approximately we'll have rolling road closures as well as those motorcades make their way around the city. the summit is monday and tuesday. back to you. thanks. metro riders are also going to be affected next week. mound vernon metro station will close 9:00 p.m. on sunday and remain closed until 5:00 a.m. on wednesday. transwill pass through that station but riders cannot get off. 13 metrobus routes will be

affected by street closures. metro riders rather pay more than have service cut. a reason survey found 80% supported raising fares to make up a budget short fall. 70% were opposed to service cuts. the much talked about merger between united airlines and u.s. airways does not look like smool sailing. we have more on this story. >> reporter: good morning. united airlines pilots union say it's against the possible merger with u.s. airways saying it wouldn't benefit either airline or the pilots. ual and us airways have been in talks for weeks but no deal is considered imnuclear weapon. us airways pilots say they are open to a deal but want to be part of the discussion. united airlines ceo said he's not threatened, mergers are

inevitable and he said the industry would benefit from fewer carriers. i don't think customers would agree. apple ceo steve jobs unveiled the latest systems operating software for the i fond. its the latest ability to multitask. it's available for the iphone this summer and new ipad this fall. apple has sold 450,000 ipads since it launched last saturday. jobs says we're making them as fast as we can, noting that sellouts have occurred at stores and there have been reports that some people are saying they are having problems connecting wirelessly with their new ipad and finally, by the way, look like we'll have a higher open when wall street begins trading in 2 1/2 hours time. >> good way to start the friday. thanks very much. >> you're welcome. >> tiger woods is back. >> on the tee, tiger woods!

>> roaring ovation when he teed off at the master. the support helped tiger. he shot a 68 the best score he's ever had at the first round of the masters. he trails the leader by two strokes. there were from jeers above. a plane carrying a banner poking fun flew high above. didn't seem to phase tiger. >> it was incredible all day. pretty much, you know, all day it was just, incredible. >> tiger tees off again this morning at 10:35. >> let's get a final check of our weather forecast. >> big changes, chuck? >> absolutely right. as advertised the rains came through and now the rains are moving out and the pollen has gone away with the rain drops. almost all the rain is gone. one or two sprinkles, southern

prince george's and one or two drops in montgomery county. the rain is done with us. cooler, much cooler air coming in on a strong northwesterly wind. northwest wind 15 to 20 miles per hour. temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s. very different day today than yesterday. showers are gone. sunshine back by late morning early afternoon. highs today upper 50s and 4r0e6s. the weekend looks magnificent. >> let's travel the beltway inner loop as you make the drive from springfield on up towards 66, earlier accident long gone. just usual delays now beginning about the interchange of 95 headed on up passing 236 towards i-66. by the way 66 looking really, really fine east through fair oaks headed towards vienna and the capital beltway. inside the beltway moving along nicely. 270 smooth sailing as you drive out of frederick.

route 118, hang on to a little wind whip. that's a good thing because those light winds even though they may be gusty help dry out the roadways. no incidences to report down the split. earlier problem on the outer loop of the beltway, colesville road there was a truck stopped on the shoulder but the travel lanes remain available. metro rail, vre and marc reporting no delays on this friday at this point. trains appear to be moving along on time. back to you. we are following some developing news out of west virginia now where rescuers are again being pulled out of the mine where they had been searching for four missing miners. hope is fading any of them will be found alive. officials just wrapped up a news conference where they told us they have been able to check underground last night and one of the rescue chamber where's the miners can go for safety there's oxygen in there, food and water, they were able to check that one. one of empty. they are trying to reach a

second one. >> they found evidence of a fire. putting nitrogen in trying to make sure it's safe to go back in. another chamber they want to check. they want to check it around noon today. we'll be following this, course. that's it for four. thank you for starting your friday today. >> we hope you join us on monday morning. we start at 4:30 a.m. we'll see you on monday. >> bye.